'51 Pontiac .. from OHIO

Still waiting on parts .. so ive been buttoning up as many small details as i can. I dont have door lock posts (not the pulls the actual threaded rod) with my door mechs so i had an idea. I wont have locks for now on the doors .. oh well .. but i dont want people to know that.

So i decided to come up with some faux door locks. Kinda corny .. but they should work for now.

I had two .44 mag valve stem covers in the bottom of my tool box so i put them in my drill and spun them while using a file to "machine" them down enough to fit snuggly in the lock holes. When installed they give the appearance of a "locked door". Wont stop everyone .. but my old boss once told me 99% of security is visual .. which i believe intirely. Either way its better than nothing there and just a hole in the garnish molding. Just a temporary fix. Hopefully i get some parts in the next couple days so i can get some more important stuff done.







Used this valve stem cap to hold them while i spun them like a lathe in my drill ..



Installed..






.. additionally i re-up'd for 2013 .. whoop whoop!! haha .. now i just need to buy another car every year so i have somewhere to put it. (not a bad idea in my opinion)




Luke

 

Cool! As soon as I get my first check as an RN I will become an alliance member too!

 

Very nice build. You're making this look extremely easy. I've got a '51 in storage in the States. I'm dying to get back and finish it. I've only gotten around to rebuilding the engine. You've given me a lot to think about. I'll be tackling the floorboards and brakes as well.

 

Nice, at some point i want to get together with everyone in the area for a cruise-in this summer.. we all need to coordinate something. Be it middletown or something .. whatever i just wanna start building a face to face friendship up with some of the local hamb bums..

Its always nice to have someone to call in a pinch..

Brakes and floors werent bad .. floors suck but i just dislike welding thin ass sheet metal, because i have no patience, i want everything done an hour ago.. brakes were straight forward .. just takes a little cash to get some of the parts rounded up.

Luke

 

Hi Luke,

What did you do with the PONTIAC door scripts? If you still have them, would you be interested in selling them? Please let me know. Thanks.

Doug Pratt

P.S. Bitchin' lookin' car........congratulations!

 

u can get all the glass here
http://www.autocityclassic.com/inde...rt&page=shop.browse&category_id=353&Itemid=41

 

Luke i'll shoot you a PM, but I put on a little cruise in at my buddies carry out last year. Only got a few cars but had a great time. We tried to have a second but that wound up being the day of the monster wind storm we had last year! Not sure what the dates gonna be yet but we will likely have an early one! Maybe late April early May. I might be able to make it down your way to take a look at those tail lights this weekend if your gonna be around.

 

I was too busy with RN school last year but I would love to have a HAMB get together at the good guys in columbus...

 

Well unfortunately i only have one.. So like you i am in the market for another. Im sure youve noticed theyre outrageously priced.. i cant see spending $80 on a pitted one right now so ill probably leave them off til i find one for a reasonable price.

Nice...

Cool.. Im in. Ill be in the garage all weekend .. Hambers always welcome

Agreed .. Trying to plan ahead for events so i can put miles on her this year!


- Luke

 

Congrats on the work! I'm late to this thread, but howdy from Columbus.

 

Keep up the good work man ! Definitely going in the right direction

 

Well i didnt get a whole lot done this weekend .. but i got a little bit accomplished.

Started by modifying the air cleaner i got from Speedway.. so it would fit my old ass carb. Looks good on there .. need to get a 4x2 K&N filter for it though because ive read of people running rich on these cheap filters.



Then i decided rather than buying a battery hold down bracket i would just make one. The car had a 6v battery in it when i bought it .. but it was from '08 and it was a Group1 which is completely wrong for this car. Purchased my new battery two weeks ago when we fired up the car so i got to fabricating this new hold down. Its still raw .. probably just going to paint it black so it stays under played under the hood but so far so good. I may make some cross braces down the center of it .. mostly just for asthetics but this is pretty much where i ended up last night before i called it a day and came inside.

Started with a peice of flat plate.. cut out my template and drilled some holes for the caps and terminals..



Then used the vise and bent the lips on the edges..



Then cut out the hold down brackets..



Then scored the fold lines with the angle grinder..



Then folded up the wings and tacked them on..



Then i started on the top support pieces.. lopped off the edges and tacked it on





Notched out the spots for the wires to run.. and tacked on the other side..



Welded it up and grinded the underside smooth and set it up on there..



Then test fitted everything..







Probably a little overkill .. but it will work .. should get it painted up today and ill pop it in.


Also started on a cut out for the exhaust. Just going to weld up one to the existing pipe in front of the muffler.. Just incase i feel like gettin' roudy sometime. Total cost for the cutout is $6.75 (two exhaust flanges, gasket, and a 4" peice of 2" exhaust pipe i had in a scrap bin) .. should have it wrapped up tonight too and ill throw up some pictures when its done. I may never even open it .. but then again if i wanted to its there..


Luke

 

Do you have a insulator to put under the positive lead to prevent melting the whole thing down? You could always paint it with that cast coat grey duplicolor engine paint I use that stuff all over the place. Its nice and subtle.

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Yeah i have red & black felt terminal pads that will be under both of them. Its kind of hard to tell but the way the terminals are designed on these batteries the lowest i can slide the connectors down on the terminals still leaves them about 3/8" above the plate. I think ill be spraying it with a rubberized bed liner out of an aerosol can also just to hold up better to any corrosion that may work its way onto the surface.

Luke

 

Gotcha...I've also been using that plastidip spray on stuff it leaves a nice matte finish and if you don't like it you can just peal it back off! But I doubt it holds up to battery acid..

 

Went back and re-read the whole thread. What an amazing build. Inspiring too. Great work!

Gonna hafta subscribe now that I've found this...



All original and mostly unmolested. 99% intact. Spent most of the last 40 years in a barn.

Dave

 

Took the day off and tore the trans apart today with an friend of mine to replace the seals.. fun fun Made pretty good progress and had no real issues. Had a couple head scratching moments but nothing a couple PBRs and a 10 minute break couldnt clear up.

A fully disassembled Hydra Matic P51



.. starting to reassemble






Not a super thrilling update but i got it all reassembled minus the pan and side cover. Hopefully by the weekend ill have it all back installed and we'll see if it still leaks. I was originally planning on filling it up on the bench but i dont need to add the additional 20-25 lbs in fluid to the install so i think ill just wait.



Luke

 

Amazing progress !!
She looks great ,,
What is the small radiator in the floor ? Seat heater ?

 

Whew! I was worried at first when I saw your battery hold down bracket. Glad to hear you inulated the underneath so it doesn't short if you accidentally lay it down on the terminals. I've seen some nasty burns from that. You did a good job on it though.

 

Yeah its the heater core .. kind of an odd spot for it.

Yeah should be fine.. if i have any potential issues with it ill just make a thin 1/8" peice of rubber thats cut to the shape of the plate and lay it down in the bottom but i think the felt pads and height of the terminals should be fine.

Luke

 

Nice looks like its mostly solid should be a good start!

 

sweet!!

 

Where did you get the brass crush washers for the banjo bolt on the master cylinder?

 

Came w the master.. But u can just get them at oreilys or some place like that. Ive bought them before.

Luke

 

My $6.75 exhaust cut out. Doubt it will get used much if ever .. but for $7 and about an hour of cutting/welding i figured why not.





Using a spare piece to work on the notch ..



Pipe tacked on to the exhaust flange. Went with a two bolt so i could keep everything above the frame rails.



Flange welded on ..



Needed a cap so i used another 2 bolt flange .. used a 3" hole saw in a piece of scrap plate i had. Welded the plug from the hole saw over the flange and plug welded the pilot hole shut.





Then welded it on to the side of the exhaust..





Hides up there pretty good.. From head on its basically flush with the underside of the frame rails.



For right now i put a gasket and some standard bolts and lock washers on .. depending on how it sounds later i may fix it up with some wing nuts but for now ill just leave it capped.

Just a silly toy and has little significance but maybe it will be fun to play with from time to time.

Luke

 

Nice tech there! I might have to make a couple of those!

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Transmission is back in the car.. stupid fuel pump is driving me nuts though. Pretty sure the diaphram is bad so i ordered an electric pump last night. Ill throw it on the car this week and maybe take it around the block.

Got the car to run a little bit on and off and got the trans almost all the way full. So far so good .. no leaks i can see as of yet so im crossing my fingers. Hopefully it will still shift through the gears alright.. we'll see.

Got the brakes bled sat with my dad so they're good to go too.

Luke

 

Moar pics..


Still havent gotten the pump in yet. I did however get the Holley low pressure regulator in the mail from summit today .. along with the low pressure gauge. Gauge was cheap but oh well we'll see how it works. I liked the look of it too cause it wasnt super fancy and had a classic old style look.





Mounted the LPR on the inner fender on the passenger side in the engine bay. The regulator sits a little more than a foot away from the carb. The Holley reg is setup with two outputs and one input. One output will go to the carb input the other will have a fitting on it with the gauge screwed directly to. Should work nice for tuning under the hood.









.. nasty old gas looks like pee


I still need to head up to ACE to get one more hose barb fitting for the carb side of the regulator and also the reducer fitting for the other side so i can mount the gauge. Then just hook up the lines and it should be all set.

Also got around to fitting the drivers side trim on the car. Its not all in the best shape but it all made it back on there so thats good.. just need to order some more ebay brake away clips for the other side and i should be good to go. Ordered a bag of 5 of the nomad clips for the shark fin trim so we'll see if its the right size.. havent had any luck finding them anywhere else..



.. decided to throw on the one Pontiac "script" piece i had on the drivers side, guess ill start looking for another for the pass side






Anyways that's all i got to tonight.. until next time..

Luke

 

Nice & clean as usual Luke. Looking good!

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Thanks buddy .. getting down to crunch time .. trying to get this thing whipped into shape asap.

Luke